Nice post. I've told stories about my father in WWII here before, and what your grandfather did in the theater and what he told you (and probably didn't tell you) doesn't surprise me at all. I was well into my 30's before I even found out that Dad saw combat during the war. I thought he was a young radar expert. He was, of course, learning about it in the Navy and then teaching radar to men far older than he was simply because when he enlisted, he wrote that building and operating radios was a hobby of his growing up. The navy saw that in his file and decided he was going to be a radar expert. Radar was so secret he couldn't even use the name around my mother. Changed his life, big time. On December 7th, Dad was at work at what became Hobby Airport, but what was then Howard R. Hughes Airport, seeing Hughes himself from time to time. He was a guard for an airmail company, the best job he could get after graduating from high school. College was something other people did in the movies. Dad never dreamed that December 7th would, in its way, lead directly to him not only going to college, but eventually becoming a professor and department chair at a major Houston university. When the news hit, he said everyone at the airport flipped out. While he had a pistol in a shoulder holster for his job, before he knew it, they'd handed him and several others Thompson submachine guns, telling them to patrol the airport, looking for saboteurs. They were even supposed to be on the lookout for a parachute attack! Fortunately, no one was shot before people calmed down and realized the "Japs" weren't dropping from the skies onto the runways. Mom first heard the news on the radio and, of course, everyone was burning up the telephone lines talking about Pearl and what it meant. Crazy times. Few had a clue as to how things would play out over the next 4 years.
Awful. The Japanese attacked, disgusting. But then the U.S. response, just horrible....horrible. I could never be apart of the military and war, every side thinks they are the "good guys" who is doing the right thing. Being apart of a history of killing innocents, wouldn't be fond of the idea. At the end of the day I'm sure everyone has the same goal, just stay alive long enough to get back to your family. I guess when thought about, for me, just sad.
I'm just glad Roosevelt though he was a "good guy" and decided to respond by entering the war. If not, Hitler's "good guys" may have completely taken over Europe if not a good portion of the world. Aside from that, I keep the thoughts of those Sailors lost on this day. In some way, it may have been a good thing Japan struck as it forced Americans away from their isolationist policy. Its still sad that so many souls were lost in that generation.
I somewhat agree with DD. Storm wasn't officially a war from what I remember. Kosovo wasn't, it was just action taken. As for Iraqi Freedom, don't let that banner on the carrier fool you. I would disagree with DD though and say we won in Korea, at least somewhat. Though the effects of that one are still being felt. People forget about that one I think.
Somewhat, have you seen the difference between North and South Korea. It officially was just a cease fire, but history has shown it to be a decisive victory for South Korea. And the younger generation of Koreans show no appreciation for what our people did. So the US isn't the only country that forgets history.
